We are delighted to send you the latest issue of The MOFET JTEC Portal resource listing.

The current bulletin contains a number of research findings from theses and research papers, as well as educational resources, conference information, etc. selected from journals and other Jewish education publications.

We are in the midst of registration for the Spring 2014 semester of the MOFET International Online Academy for Teachers with courses in the fields of Teaching Educational Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Teaching Jewish Studies, Teaching Hebrew as a Foreign Language and Teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Join us to advance your professional prowess and to earn an academic certificate.

The MOFET Institute's Online Academy for Teachers has opened registration for the Spring, 2013 semester of online courses which will begin on February 23, 2014. The array of courses offered touches upon the fields of Teaching Educational Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL), Teaching Jewish Studies, and Teaching Hebrew as a Foreign Language. Several courses will be conducted in Spanish.

With the imminent arrival of Earth Day on Monday, April 22, 2013, we have collected a sampling of BJPA holdings that reflect and enrich the contemporary Jewish discourse on the environment. Jewish concerns for, and sense of sacredness for, the earth is a 4,000 year-old tradition, as old as Judaism itself. As human beings we have a compelling interest in caring for the only earth we inhabit, and as Jews we have contributed to compelling thinking about the environment, our responsibilities, and possibilities for action. A sampling of that thinking appears in this BJPA Reader's Guide to Environmental Issues, which we hope will promote this vital conversation.

RAVSAK, the Jewish Community Day School Network and PARDES: Day Schools of Reform Judaism, are convening a joint day school leadership conference entitled: “Moving the Needle: Galvanizing Change in Day School” at the Westin LAX, January 19-21, 2014. Inspirational keynotes, workshops and networking opportunities for educators, administrators, board members and stakeholders of network member schools will engage participants around design thinking, school change, board development, educational leadership, innovative technologies, contemporary ideas of Jewish pluralism, Israel curricula, modes of prayer education, special needs inclusion, early childhood education and more.

The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) unveiled a new strategy for engaging youth at its Biennial Convention in San Diego this past week. “Inspired Engagement” – what the URJ is branding as their distinct way of engaging youth – emerged after an eight-month strategic planning process that included voices of more than 700 stakeholders from across the Jewish community and beyond.

In 2005, the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) initiated a program to place visiting Israeli professors (VIPs) on university campuses in the United States. The program seeks to expose students at colleges and universities to serious academic study about modern Israel through the placement of Israeli academics in temporary positions, thereby enhancing student understanding of Israel’s culture, government, and society as well as the domestic and international challenges the country faces. This study is based on a survey of over 200 students who took courses from an AICE visiting Israeli professor in spring 2011.